Enrichment Fusion Poetry Workshop

Art and Design and Creative Media Level 2 and 3 students enjoyed a poetry workshop with the theme of community at its core on 13 June in the TV Studio of our Ealing Green College.  Led by Alain (pronounced A-lane) Clapham, founder of Fusion and a rapper of the same name, students explored their cultural identities, roots, their London home and reasons to be proud of who they are. Poet Chloe Osei-Williams (aka Chloe Carterr) joined Alain alongside Chris Aplerku, Fusion’s media content creator.

During the workshop, art and media students wrote poems and were tasked to create a piece of media using the poems they had created.

Alex Jeffs, Digital Design Level 3 first year, was one such student. He described racist encounters where he has tried to reason with the other person, thinking that would resolve the issue.

Alex says: “Some people mistreated me because they thought I was a ‘foreigner’ due to how I looked, so I tried to write about that experience in my poem as a conversation that’s going back and forth between me and the people that would make those comments.”

Here is Alex’s poem:

I’m from the melting pot of cultures,
When you see me you think,
Korean, Japanese, The Great Wall of the Motherland
No I’m British, born and raised.
Do you eat dog?
No! I eat the same foods you eat,
Poodles? Frenchies? Chihuahuas?
You know I told you I’m
British right
Yeah I know… but why are
your eyes so thin?
Really? I never really noticed.
Yeah and didn’t you create
Covid? My grandparents are
dead because of you.
My condolences but why am I to
blame for your loss.
Coz you’re not from here, your eyes
stretch to your hair,
And you speak good English aren’t you
Supposed to go speak like
ching, chang, chung,
No I speak perfect English thank you
very much

Lorna Acikalin, Programme Lead Digital and Creative at 91ɬ�� said: “It was a great enrichment experience for our students to explore creating artistic work about their own personal experiences of cultural identity.”